‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Prequel Comics Canceled by Marvel

Marvel will once again be left out of the real fun when a new Star Wars movie hits theaters. The publisher has reportedly canceled a planned prequel series for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The planned series was going to run three issues and launch in October, with a one-shot was also in the works. However, ComicBook.com noticed that pre-orders were canceled by retailers and Amazon. Marvel had no comment on the strange situation.

Marvel also didn’t get to really cash-in on Star Wars: The Force Awakens last year, since both Star Wars and Darth Vader are set long before the events in the J.J. Abrams-directed movie. Yes, Marvel did have a Journey To The Force Awakens title with Shattered Empire, but the publisher was not able to get a comic book adaptation of the movie out in time. The five-issue comic adaption of TFA won’t start until June.

It also delayed a C-3PO one-shot that explained how our favorite protocol droid got a red arm. This was initially supposed to launch around the time TFA hit theaters, but it wasn’t released until last month.

The only logical reason for the Rogue One books to be cancelled is to avoid spoilers. After all, character names recently leaked thanks to a visual guide. Even this is a little weird, though. The Marvel books were supposed to be before the events of the movie and would have just helped us get familiar with the characters.

The news also comes after writer Kieron Gillen confirmed to IGN last week that Darth Vader will end at #25. That series is Marvel’s top-selling Star Wars book, but Gillen said the story is coming to an end.

For Star Wars comic fans, there will still be the main Star Wars series, (which will hopefully move beyond post-A New Hope events, eventually), Poe Dameron and the upcoming Han Solo mini-series.

Rogue One opens on December 16, and stars Felicity Jones as the leader of a group of Rebels assigned to steal the Death Star plans before A New Hope. It was directed by Gareth Edwards.